The United States and Ukraine on Wednesday signed a long-anticipated agreement on the joint development of Ukraine’s natural resources, First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko announced, setting up a 10-year investment framework to support the country’s reconstruction.
“I am grateful to everyone who worked for the agreement and made it more meaningful. Now the document is such that it can ensure success for both our countries — Ukraine and the United States,” Svyrydenko wrote on Facebook.
According to Bloomberg, the agreement grants the United States preferential access to new investment projects involving Ukraine’s strategic resources, including aluminum, graphite, oil and natural gas. It also establishes a joint investment structure, with equal participation from both countries, designed to channel capital into Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction and long-term development over the next decade.
The agreement explicitly excludes any reference to Ukraine’s outstanding debt related to past U.S. military or financial aid. That marks a clear break from the position long held by President Donald Trump, who had framed the minerals deal as a vehicle to recoup what he claimed was up to $300 billion in U.S. assistance to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began in February 2022.
An independent assessment from Germany’s Kiel Institute for the World Economy, however, put the actual value of U.S. support at approximately $119.7 billion between January 2022 and December 2024.
According to the U.S. Treasury Department, Wednesday’s agreement “signals clearly to Russia that the Trump administration is committed to a peace process centered on a free, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine over the long term.” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent added that no “state or person who financed or supplied the Russian war machine” will be allowed to profit from Ukraine’s reconstruction.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said the final version of the agreement rules out any immediate transfer of major infrastructure assets, including ports, industrial facilities, and the country’s gas transmission network. The fund will be co-financed and jointly managed by both governments, with Ukraine retaining sovereign control over its natural resources and issuing licenses and permits for subsoil use while keeping ownership of its reserves.
The deal had appeared close to finalization as early as February, but negotiations abruptly collapsed after a heated public confrontation at the White House involving President Volodymyr Zelensky, Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance. Part of the fallout apparently stemmed from Washington’s categorical refusal to offer formal defense guarantees to Kyiv — a condition Zelensky had insisted on as a prerequisite for signing. No such provisions are included in the final text.
Two additional technical documents — one outlining the fund’s creation, the other detailing its financial operations — are expected to follow the framework deal. Each agreement must then be ratified by Ukraine’s single-chamber parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, before taking effect.
According to the Financial Times, tensions briefly flared again early Wednesday after Bessent allegedly told Svyrydenko to be “ready to sign all three documents — or fly home,” following what was seen as a last-minute push by the Ukrainian side to proceed with only the minerals framework.
Trump, speaking during a cabinet meeting Wednesday, emphasized the strategic value of Ukraine’s rare earth minerals. “We’re always looking for rare earths — they’ve got a lot. We made a deal. It’s good for them, it’s good for us,” he said. “Soon, they’re going to honor the deal. We haven’t really seen the fruits of it yet, but I suspect we will.”
He also acknowledged Ukraine’s limited financial resources, saying he didn’t want a “complicated deal” because “they don’t have a lot of money.” Still, he added, “We’ve structured a deal where our money is safe.”
Ukrainian officials say the agreement was carefully structured to avoid clashing with Kyiv’s EU accession process or its financial commitments to international lenders. One major sticking point in the talks had been whether the agreement would conflict with a 2021 memorandum of understanding between Kyiv and the 27-member bloc which aimed to boost cooperation in extracting, refining and processing critical raw materials.
For Washington, the deal is seen as a strategic step to reduce reliance on China, which controls more than 75% of the global rare earth market, according to the Geological Investment Group. But analysts caution that it could take years of geological surveying, permitting and infrastructure development before meaningful extraction begins.
